Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines – AAR, Scenario 5 Part 2

Airboy’s extended campaign AAR continues across the Pacific ~

Avery Abernethy, 23 October 2016

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Scenario 5 Bougainville – Avery Abernethy

The Naval Battle:

The key to victory is keeping a screen of destroyers between your cruisers and the Japanese destroyers. If the Japanese destroyers get to close range and launch torpedoes your cruisers are doomed. But torpedoes can only be launched once every four turns. My destroyers are both shields to absorb torpedo attacks and spears to torpedo Japanese cruisers after the Jap destroyers are sunk. A second advantage of a tightly clustered fleet is better anti-aircraft fire.

The Jap Destroyers launched early against my Destroyers at long range. This was ineffective. US cruiser and destroyer gunnery sank the Jap destroyers. Then US destroyers launched close range torpedo attacks to sink several Jap cruisers. US losses were two destroyers sunk with others heavily damaged. One of my cruisers was heavily damaged. But I made one major mistake. I used my PT boat squadron to launch an attack and it got sunk. I should have held the PT boats out of the battle. Then they could have attacked Japanese amphibious reinforcements after the rest of the Navy retired.